BrainPower Outage
by AnonOrange-FFA
Summary: Volkner's problems with boredom started long before he was a Gym Leader. T for language.


'Honey, are you awake?'

Luxio gave a low growl in response to the soft knock at Volkner's bedroom door. The boy stirred, only just, and ignored the question. Yes, he was awake. No, he had no intention of moving.

'Wake up, sweetie, it's getting late.'

''m up.'

'Oh come on, it's almost two in the afternoon. Were you up until four again?'

'No,' Volker made a move to cover his eyes. His mother was fussing around the room by then, opening curtains, tidying up as she went. He groaned, 'only two.'

'That's just as bad. I thought I heard your phone was ringing earlier, who was it?'

'Didn't answer.'

'Oh,' she sat down on the end of his bed, 'do you have plans for today?'

'No.'

'Summer's almost over, you know.'

'Summer's never over in Sunyshore.'

'And there's the longest sentence you've said in three weeks. Make sure you have a shower today, won't you?'

'Mhm,' he heard her leave the room; she left the door ajar. She always left the fucking door ajar. 'Lux,' he said. Luxio yawned, but closed the door without the direct order being given. He jumped up onto the bed then, and curled up by his trainers' feet. The boy reached down and scratched him between the ears. The phone started to ring again. 'Fuck off, Flint,' Volkner said into the handset; he hadn't bothered to check caller ID.

'You fuck off,'

'Okay,' he hung up. 'I give him six seconds,' he said, still absentmindedly scratching Luxio's ears.

'You hung up! You complete asshole!'

'Hi, I'm Volkner. Have we met?'

'Jerk.'

'What do you want?'

'Come round today.'

'Why?'

'Because I'm sick of spending every day with Buck. He's an idiot.'

'He's thirteen.'

'And an idiot.'

'I'm not coming round.'

'Why not?'

'Better shit to do.'

'Like?'

'Literally anything else.'

'Fuck you, I'll be over in ten.'

'No you won't.'

'Yes I will. Put some fucking pants on, bro.'

'No.'

'It's fucking manners.'

'Fuck your manners,' Volkner said. He hung up again, this time with no intention of answering if Flint called a third time. He made a cursory glance around his bedroom. With the quick clean up his mother had done earlier, there were no pants within reach. That was hardly his fault; their friendship had survived much worse than that over the years. He closed his eyes. Fifteen more minutes of sleep sounded like the best idea he'd had in weeks.

###

He was dozing by the time Flint walked in, Monferno at his heels. Luxio growled from his place on the bed but did not move; he knew the pair were not intruders.

'Dude, have you left your room at all this week?'

'Went to piss earlier.'

'No shit, other than that?'

'Downstairs yesterday,' Volkner mumbled. He opened his eyes, hesitantly, but they started watering anyway. The curtains were open on both windows and the sun was sitting low enough to reflect off the mirror on his wardrobe door.

'Doesn't count.'

'I got there, alright?'

'You okay?'

'Huh? Fine,' he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, toes sinking into the carpet for a moment. He looked over at Flint, sitting at his computer, not paying attention. He just wanted to go back to bed.

'You sure?'

'Yeah,' Volkner waved a hand indifferently. 'Don't touch that.'

'I wasn't, fuck.'

'You were too, you bastard. Just don't fucking break it. I've been working on it for a month.'

'A month?'

'Yeah.'

Flint scooted the desk chair over to Volkner's workspace, examining the parts he could see. For friends that went back as far as they did, he'd never been able to keep up with Volkner's hobbies, especially the more complicated engineering projects. How could he? They were only sixteen and he was already involved in university level research projects. On top of that, he was working on his own ways to produce electricity on a larger and cleaner scale than the city. Flint skimmed the desktop again, trying to work out what didn't add up. It was something, and it was obvious. Parts were strewn over the top of sketches and blueprints; the dates. Volkner dated his work, every single scrap of paper was dated in case someone tried to steal his ideas. The most recent schematic was from before the summer had even begun. Flint spun the chair around, eyebrows furrowed.

'Volk,'

'Mhm?' Volkner was in bed again, head underneath his pillow.

'When did you get retarded?'

'What?'

'This is the kind of shit you do because you're bored. This isn't a project.'

'Still took me a month.'

'Yeah, we're getting the fuck out of here. Put some pants on.'

'Lost 'em.'

'Here,' Flint said. He found a pair of jeans lying beside the chair, picked them up and threw them at Volkner; he hit Luxio, who in turn pounced at and pinned Monferno to the floor. 'Oi, cut it out!'

Luxio bared his teeth.

'Call your 'mon off, bro.'

'Lux, down.' Volker didn't remove the pillow before he spoke. Luxio hissed, in Flint's direction, before curling back up on the floor. Monferno climbed up the back of the desk chair and perched himself on his trainer's shoulder.

'The fuck is wrong with you?' Flint was visibly annoyed.

'Nothing,' Volkner deadpanned. He reached for the jeans and pulled them on, not even bothering to stand up first. Jeans on, he stared at the ceiling for a moment before glancing over at Flint. 'So you came into my room while I was sleeping, naked,'

'You were not naked.'

'Naked,' Volkner continued, 'had a conversation with me and then watched me get dressed. There's a story to spread around the city.'

'Fuck off.'

'It even rhymes, Flint the fag, everyone'll love it.'

'Just get fucking dressed so we can leave?' Flint sighed. Volkner finally stood up, yawned, and pulled on a black t-shirt he found hanging on the door handle. Odd socks, from the foot of his bed, went on as well as a pair of work boots. He didn't bother picking up his phone and his wallet was already in the back pocket of his jeans; he figured it had been left there three days earlier.

'You coming?'

'Finally,' Flint rolled his eyes.

'I wasn't talking to you,' Volkner said. He raised an eyebrow at Luxio, who still looked very asleep. 'Fine, stay here. I'll take the others.' He slipped his belt through the loops on his jeans, buckled it, and stood impatiently while Flint returned all the pieces to their place on the workbench.

'Take longer next time, bro,' Flint scoffed, following Volkner out of the room.

'Fuck off, faggot.'

'Yeah, that's an original one, go with that. You sound hardcore.'

Volkner didn't bother with a response.

###

'So what's going on, man?'

Flint asked the question while Volkner was busy fighting the wind to light his cigarette. He succeeded after three tries, eventually using Flint as a shield.

'Nothing.'

'Bullshit.'

'Nothing's going on, okay?' he paused. 'I can't think straight. It's fucked up my productivity. I haven't done any of the shit I needed to get done by the end of the summer and a week ago I put all my capacitors in backwards and some other shit as well and fucked up an entire project. Cyrus, fucking Cyrus, bypassed all the shit I've got on my computer and I'm pretty sure he's got a copy of every single blueprint I've ever drawn, which is fucking great. I can't figure out how to fix any of the shit I'm working on. It's like my fucking brain has fucking short circuited itself for no fucking reason. Is that the fucking answer you wanted?' He took a long drag on his cigarette. Flint noticed, not for the first time, that his hands were shaking.

'Buck tried to light my hair on fire yesterday.'

'What?'

'What? Just trying to lighten the mood.'

'You didn't.'

'Any success?'

'I really want to punch you in the face now.'

'I thought you did before.'

'More now,' Volkner said. 'Maybe the throat.'

'Sounds like a good time,' Flint noted, rolling his eyes. 'So, where are we going?'

'You dragged me out of my house.'

'I did not, you left on your own.'

'You dragged me by the hair.'

'You tried to go back to sleep on the couch!'

'So? I'm tired.'

'Fuck, we'll just go to the arcade. Just don't get us thrown out for bitching about the lights this time.'

'Hey, if the guy hired someone who knew what the fuck they were doing, I wouldn't have had to try and fix the things.'

'They were in the bathroom.'

'And?'

'He thought you were trying to install cameras.'

'Why the fuck would I do that?'

'I dunno, but he paid me to take you out of there.'

'How much?'

'Game coupons.'

'And you didn't share?'

'You were the one installing cameras to spy on dudes in the bathroom.'

'Jerk,' Volkner muttered. He threw the cigarette butt to the ground and crushed it with the heel of his boot. 'Cameras.'

'What?'

'Cameras. Motion detectors. Fuck, I have to go.'

'The fuck, man?'

'Idea. First one in weeks. Need parts, plans, I need to think,' Volkner was walking backwards by then, lighting another cigarette as he did. 'I need more paper to draw schematics, parts, I'm not sure what parts yet but I know I need them. I'll see you tomorrow. Wake me up at one.'

'In the afternoon?'

'Yeah, if I don't sleep I'll let you know. Tomorrow!' he turned then, breaking into a run. Flint was unsure how to react. Volkner getting caught up in an idea was hardly new, but the mood before it had struck was. He shrugged it off; besides, it was probably best that Volkner didn't return to the arcade before his ban was officially over.

###

'So now one else is home but the back door was unlocked,' Flint shouted up the stairs. 'Well, it wasn't unlocked, the window was so Monferno came in and unlocked the door. Is that breaking and entering? I didn't break anything. Bro?' He stopped short in the doorway when he realised that there was no chance of a response. The curtains were still drawn and Volkner was asleep, facing the wall, still dressed as he had been the previous afternoon – boots and all. Flint removed a Pokéball from his belt and released his Eevee onto the bed. He watched as Volkner, barely conscious but awake, finally, patted the Eevee's head and picked it up by the scruff of the neck.

''m sleepin', play later,' he mumbled, moving the Pokémon to the floor.

'Volk,' Flint said loudly. 'Not your Eevee.'

'Wassth' time?'

'Three thirty or some shit. Your phone's off.'

'Turned it off.'

'The fuck's going on?' Flint sat in the desk chair, feet up on the end of the bed. Eevee jumped up onto his lap.

'Tired.'

'You've slept for like four days this week.'

'So?'

'Nice boner.'

'Fuck off.'

'Just thought I'd point it out.'

'Why?' Volkner asked as he sat up, struggling to open his eyes. 'Why would you point that out?'

'Because it's right there.'

'Can we not talk about my boner?'

'Too hard not to.' Flint paused, then snorted when he realised what he'd said. Volkner just glared at him as he tried to straighten out his hair.

'You're not even funny.'

'That was pretty funny, I didn't even plan that one.'

'I need to piss,' Volkner said, his voice flat as he left the room.

'Volkner?' Flint called a few minutes later. He was watching his Eevee scurry around Volkner's bedroom, wary of Luxio lying by his pillows. 'Bro? Go check on him,' Flint said; none of the Pokémon moved. 'Fine, but if I have to see anything I don't want to see, we're battling and I'll kick his ass.' Luxio yawned. 'Volk, you in there?'

'Fuck off.'

'Huh?'

'Just, fuckin' go home or something.'

'Dude, the fuck is going on?' Flint kicked the door open, cautiously, and froze. 'Bro…'

Volkner looked over from his place in the empty bath. Still fully clothed, thankfully, his boots were propped up on the faucet. Cigarette in hand, he gestured for Flint to come in; he chose to stay where he was, leaning against the doorframe. He took a long drag, holding the smoke in for a long as he could.

'I told you yesterday.'

'Huh?'

'My brain has gone to absolute shit and I'm about to throw myself from the Vista.'

'Oh. At least your boner's gone.'

###

'Were you serious? Before.'

'I don't know,' Volkner replied. He was sitting in the open window of his bedroom, another cigarette in hand. It had taken half an hour for him to decide to leave the bathroom, and even then he'd only agreed to it because Luxio had come looking for him. Flint had looked noticeably uncomfortable when he'd sat in down, even after the reminder that, at two stories, the worst that would happen was a broken wrist. 'I feel retarded. Like, I can't fucking concentrate, I can't think, I can't put basic shit together anymore. It feels like I'm wasting my fucking time doing these bullshit projects that I can't even fucking finish.'

'Bro, you've always been retarded.'

'Yeah, that helps.'

'You're bored.'

'What?'

'You're bored. You did the same thing when we were in school. You passed all your shit, got ahead, stopped for a minute to let it go to your head, then blew everyone out of the fucking water in the exams. Then after that you got bored because nothing was hard anymore.'

'The fuck are you on about?'

'Two years ago. That's when that shit happened. What killed the boredom in the end?'

'I don't know. Blew up every fucking electronic device in the place,' Volkner scoffed. He put the cigarette in his mouth and reached for the nearest object; a socket-wrench, perfect for keeping his hands busy. 'Every last fucking one.'

'Yeah, exactly. You stopped being bored when you realised that was going to be hard.'

'You're trying to tell me,' he spoke clearly despite the cigarette, 'that all this shit that university level engineering students do for their final projects, is too easy?'

'You're trying to tell me it's not?'

'Schematic above the bed, dated six months ago. Took me three weeks.'

'See?' Flint didn't know what else he could say to make the situation any clearer.

'So the fuck do I do now?' Volkner asked. Flint shrugged, moving to scratch Eevee's ears as he ran past in an attempt to outwit Luxio. It didn't matter that he couldn't answer the question – no doubt Volkner would figure it out soon enough.


End file.
